Old Bailey bomber Price faces years in jail

CONVICTED IRA bomber Marian Price faces more than a dozen years behind bars as a result of holding a statement to be read out by a masked man who threatened a campaign of terrorist violence, writes Tom Brady.

Price was sentenced to life imprisonment for her part in the Provisional IRA bombing of the Old Bailey in London in 1973.

But she was released from jail on health grounds in 1980. She was let out on licence.

However, following the incident, which took place at a dissident republican rally in Derry on Easter Monday, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Patterson decided to revoke her licence.

On Monday, she was charged at Derry Magistrates Court with encouraging support for a proscribed organisation, the Real IRA.

She was granted bail on the charge but was immediately rearrested by detectives because of the licence revocation.

When she was released from jail in 1980, she still had more than 12 years of her sentence to serve.

A decision on whether she must now serve the rest of her sentence will depend on the outcome of the current court case. Price (57) will appear in court again via a video link on June 9.